Loyola University Maryland named Wendy Bolger the inaugural director of the University’s new Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship.

Bolger, who brings 20 years of experience in management and social innovation, will launch the Center with the mission of engaging Loyola in innovation and entrepreneurship and cultivating ties to Baltimore’s entrepreneurship community.

“We’re supporting a movement at Loyola’s Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship that is harnessing these approaches for the good. We’ll be a place where stakeholders can meet, learn, explore, succeed and even experience failure,” Bolger said. “We want to give students the tools and practice to become change agents. Innovation is what will better the lives of people across the city, and ultimately transform Baltimore, and Loyola will play a role in that transformation through the center.”

Prior to joining Loyola, Bolger directed innovation strategy for Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign, where she launched and grew the organization’s first innovation team, developing a vision and rigorous process, attracting advisors and partners and leading successful pilot programs and trials. Previously, she founded a nonprofit management consulting firm, where she provided expertise, coaching and training to organizational leaders.

Bolger’s additional entrepreneurial and organizational experience includes positions with global humanitarian organization Mercy Corps as director of corporate and individual relations, director of global and community partnerships and managing editor of Global Envision, a web-based education project she established. She was a senior product marketing engineer at Intel, where she oversaw the development of a digital camera line, and a marketing fellow at Save the Children, where she started youth-led initiative YouthNoise.

She also served as executive director of Rebuilding Together Charlottesville and taught English to executives and students in Japan. Her volunteer leadership experience includes serving as vice chair of the board and chair of the strategic planning committee for Prosperity Catalyst. She has also served Mentor Capital Network in the District of Columbia as well as Social Venture Partners and The Community Foundation of Boulder County in Colorado.

Bolger holds an MBA from the University of Virginia Darden Graduate School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts from Smith College in Massachusetts.